Tag Archives: Siachen tragedy

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Army has declared all the victims of Gayari sector as ‘Shuhada’ (martyrs) on Tuesday,According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army has declared all the victims of Gayari sector as martyrs, as nature and magnitude of the calamity is suggestive of no probability of recovering any one alive.

Fifty-two days have passed since the tragic incident of Gayari took place and bodies of three martyrs were found during operation. Notwithstanding the resolve of troops employed on search operations, excavation work is taking time due to constraints imposed by terrain and weather, the statement stated.

In this backdrop, religious scholars from all sects and factions were consulted. Aspects related to socio-religious dimensions / implications, requirements to initiate the process of documentation, and reduction of the sufferings of the bereaved families have been evaluated in detail.

Therefore, it was decided to declare the remaining brave soldiers as “Shuhada”. This is being done with mixed feelings of pride, grief and above all unflinching resolve to continue efforts to recover the remaining bodies.

ISLAMABAD: The Chinese armed forces have sent technical devices to the Pakistani army after a request for help in searching for bodies trapped by an avalanche.

A statement released by the Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army also sent specialists to Islamabad to help with rescue efforts. The specialists help to offer technical guidance, reports Xinhua news.

Earlier, Pakistani troops started excavating a new site in their search for 138 people buried by an avalanche at a high-altitude army camp despite a fresh slide in the area, the military said on Saturday.

A week ago a huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains in disputed Kashmir early in the morning, smothering an area of one square kilometre (a third of a square mile).

A fresh slide at the same site created difficulties for troops conducting search operations in low temperatures, intermittent snowfall and blizzards, the military said in a statement, without specifying the date of the new slide.

“The rescuers have commenced excavation at a new site, using plant equipment and infantry troops,” it said.

“The search teams conducted first level explosion to dig further into hard mass of snow against the tunnel being attempted to access a suspected structure at an important excavation site”.

Specialist high altitude teams from the United States, Germany and Switzerland are being sent by road and air to the remote site while units from China and Norway are due to arrive in Islamabad soon.

Search teams are looking for the trapped soldiers and civilians at six different points on the site, around 13,000 feet up in the mountains.

Troops were also attempting to dig a horizontal tunnel at the base of the main excavation site to reach what is thought to be one of the camp buildings.

More than 450 rescuers are working in sub-zero temperatures at the site, though experts have said there is virtually no chance of finding any survivors.

The Chinese armed forces have sent technical devices to the Pakistani army after a request for help in searching for bodies trapped by an avalanche.

A statement released by the Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army also sent specialists to Islamabad to help with rescue efforts. The specialists help to offer technical guidance, reports Xinhua news.

Meanwhile, chief of Pakistani military operations, Major General Ishfaque Nadeem told a press conference in Rawalpindi that specialist high altitude teams from Germany and Switzerland have reached the remote site.

“The six-member German and three-member Swiss teams have reached the avalanche site and are assisting Pakistani rescuers,” he said, adding however, that the specialist team from the United States could not be deployed due to bad weather.

He said a Chinese team arrived in Islamabad Saturday morning while a Norwegian team is due on Sunday to join the rescuers.

Nadeem said that rescuers had successfully been able to reach ground level at three points but failed to find anybody trapped there, meaning they were trapped in other places of the battalion headquarters.